Vegeta vs Cabba
by Gabygoo
Summary: "No matter what you say, you're not that different to me. Haven't you felt it? The desire to harm someone else? To let your power go? All it'd take is one step, and you'd be no better than our Saiyans you seem to hate so much." - A rewrite of Dragon Ball Super Episode 37
**[AN: I don't hate Dragon Ball Super. In fact, I enjoy it a lot more than most. Unfortunately, my imagination had been going into overdrive at the revelation of the Vegeta/Cabba fight occurring. I had a lot of ideas of what I wanted to happen. Super...did not do what I expected. So I decided to write my ideas up! With how unclear the canonicity of every minute detail in Super is, I feel like, as long as the outcomes are the same, the events can be whatever you want them to be.]**

"Begin!"

With those words, the two Saiyans faced each other, staring the other down, waiting for one to show the first sign of weakness.

 _That's strange,_ thought Vegeta. _His stance is just like mine._

And then Cabba made the first move, lunging out in a furious flurry of blows. Unprepared, Vegeta found himself being pushed back. The arena had been expanded, so it was unlikely he was going to get a ring-out, but the power of Cabba's attacks was another matter entirely.

As Vegeta moved, trying to get on the offensive, Cabba expertly weaved around his attempts at attacks. He hadn't struck back, yet. Vegeta watched him, almost curious at what he'd attempt next.

But he couldn't keep it up forever. After a few more attacks from Vegeta, Cabba paused to catch his breath. It was only an instant, but it was an instant Vegeta had trained well to see. He used that to his advantage, landing a blow that sent the other Saiyan skidding towards the other end of the stadium. Cabba doubled over, heavily panting.

"What's wrong?" Vegeta boasted. "Out of stamina already?"

The comment brought a spark back to Cabba's eyes. Determined, he stood up, and lunged again. Vegeta held his arms out, prepared to block…but Cabba was expecting it. In a blink of an eye, the smaller Saiyan was not in front of him, but at his side. He aimed a kick, and struck home. Vegeta was carried back, and while he recovered, was incredibly surprised.

Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to be holding back _this_ much.

 _As I am now,_ he thought, _the other Saiyan might even be as strong as_ me _._

Discounting Super Saiyan, of course. And everyone always seemed to forget Super Saiyan. Including this…Cabba, it seemed.

After his near loss against that heap of metal junk, Vegeta had just about had enough of holding back.

"Alright!" he snapped. "Enough warming up! Hurry up and become a Super Saiyan!"

But Cabba's reaction wasn't understanding, but confusion.

"Super Saiyan…" Cabba murmured, in his soft voice. "Is that the transformation you and Contestant Son Goku were using in previous matches?"

"You know what it is, just transform already!"

Hearing those words, Cabba blinked, his face contorting into what looked like…guilt?

"Forgive me," he said. "But I can't."

Vegeta frowned. "That's ridiculous! You're far too strong to not be a Super Saiyan. Are you telling me you've never transformed before?"

Cabba shook his head. "I hadn't even _seen_ this transformation before you showed us! No one on Planet Sadla had even mentioned such a thing!"

 _He's never even heard of a Super Saiyan_ …

Once again, Vegeta had to scoff at just how unusual these Universe 6 beings were.

Meanwhile, Cabba was staring at him, a strange curious expression on his face.

"Does this 'Super Saiyan' have something to do with your people? With your Saiyans? Perhaps it's something unique to your universe."

"We're all Saiyans," Vegeta replied firmly. "We can't be that different."

"I disagree," Cabba argued. "It appears that our races have ended up in very different directions. Didn't you say that in _your_ universe, Planet Sadla was destroyed?"

Vegeta gruffly answered. "Yes. So, we took over another planet, and called it Planet Vegeta. I thought I told you this."

Cabba nodded. "You did. I've been thinking about it ever since. If you wouldn't mind me asking…can you tell me why?"

"What?"

"Why did you do that? Why did you conquer another planet? Couldn't you have at least co-existed peacefully with whoever occupied it? Surely they would have been willing to provide for you - I can only imagine how much they could sympathise with your plight."

"That's not how we do things," Vegeta dismissed. "The planet didn't have enough room for more than one race."

"That's not true!" Cabba exclaimed. "If you had just tried to negotiate, instead of resorting to violence, I'm sure a peaceful approach could have been possible!"

And then Vegeta felt his patience slip.

 _Is this brat…lecturing me? In the middle of a fight?_

It was time to teach some lessons.

* * *

"You call yourself a Saiyan?" Vegeta yelled.

With a blinding flash of light, he transformed into a Super Saiyan.

"We're a warrior race," he continued, softer now, darker. "We don't take 'the peaceful approach'."

And then, without any warning, he lunged towards Cabba, continuing the battle. First one blow, sending Cabba flying back. Then another, as he tried to rise to his feet. Then a third, mid-air from where his opponent had been launched to.

But Cabba was still standing.

"That's exactly why you _shouldn't_ resort to violence!" he replied, wiping blood from his mouth. "You're stronger than the other races. If you try and fight them, they'd stand no chance! They'd be annihilated!"

All Vegeta could do was smile. "Maybe we _wanted_ them to be annihilated."

Cabba was horrified. "You couldn't possibly mean that!"

He had just gotten his words out when Vegeta hit him yet again. And, as he was launched away, Vegeta effortlessly caught up and sent him flying, careful not to reach near the edge of the stadium.

After a sixth hit, Cabba fell to the ground, just barely able to rise. Vegeta followed him, pausing.

"Do you know what we used to do?" Vegeta explained, pacing around him. "We were hired by our Universe's equivalent of _him_ -"

He gestured to Frost, still slumped, unconscious, in his seat.

"-to wipe planets of their people, so they could be sold to the highest bidder. We killed every one of them. Men, women, children. Innocent people."

Breathing heavily now, Cabba wasn't silenced. "But…you were being hired. It wasn't of your own free will."

"'Free will'?" Vegeta aimed a punch right to Cabba's gut.

"Let me tell you, if we had a problem with it, we would have rebelled. No creature could force a Saiyan to go against their instincts. No. We kept doing it because _we liked it."_

Cabba rose again, trembling. But not with fear. "How _dare_ you say that!" he yelled. "Take it back!"

"What's the problem?" Vegeta taunted. "Can't handle the truth? Saiyans are brutes and murderers. Freeza didn't push us. He just gave us the opportunity to do what we always wanted to do - to test our strength by _killing_ whoever was in our way."

"Take it back!" Cabba repeated.

"What's the point of a warrior race if you can't take it all the way?" Vegeta continued, not even flinching at Cabba's response. "What's the point of getting stronger if you don't even know the full extent of damage you can deal to someone else?"

At this point, even the Universe 7 spectators were murmuring worryingly amongst themselves.

"Did I touch a nerve?" Vegeta stopped and looked Cabba straight in the eye. "I don't know why. We're both Saiyans, aren't we?"

Cabba was shaking, violently now. Vegeta started to smirk.

"No matter what you say, you're not that different to me. Haven't you felt it? The desire to harm someone else? To let your power go? All it'd take is one step, and you'd be no better than our Saiyans you seem to hate so much."

Vegeta held out his hand, in an almost mocking token of friendship. "What do you say?"

"…no."

The voice was barely audible.

"What's that?" said Vegeta, tauntingly.

Cabba stood alone, his face pointing downwards.

"No."

Standing motionless, his previous shaking had suddenly stopped. He was still, quiet, staring at the ground, seeming to look past the world to something beyond it.

Then he started to glow. The ground began to crack under his feet.

 **"I'LL NEVER BE LIKE YOU!"**

And then…he transformed.

Everyone was shocked at this sudden change. Everyone except Vegeta.

"Alright," he said, satisfied. "I finally got some fight out of you."

" _I won't forgive you!"_ Cabba screamed, lunging forward, ready to attack, as if his body was relying purely on instinct.

He launched a furious flurry of blows. Vegeta's confident expression immediately left him as he put everything he had towards blocking. But even then…Cabba's barrage got past his defence - once, twice, multiple times. Now it was Vegeta who was looking helpless, as the Super Saiyan Cabba flew towards him, not stopping his attacks even for an instant.

Vegeta rose in the air, trying to get some distance, but Cabba caught up to him in an instant, charging a ki blast that hit Vegeta square-on in the chest. Hitting the ground, Vegeta struggled to rise. And as he looked around, he realised he was close to the edge of the arena.

 _"This is the end!"_ Cabba dropped to the ground, aiming his fist for Vegeta's head, ready to finish it.

But as his fist collided…Cabba suddenly sensed a massive power, power like he'd never felt before.

And as he looked up, he realised Vegeta had taken his blow head-on. And hadn't even flinched.

"That's enough," Vegeta said, almost warmth in his voice. "You did good."

"Wha-" Cabba stopped his attack and stared, confused.

"But it's not enough!" Vegeta snapped. "You've still got a long way to go. Do you want me to show you?"

That's when Cabba understood. The power he was sensing…it was Vegeta. It was all him.

And, deciding an answer was not needed, Vegeta showed him. It was only an instant, the small time in which he powered up. As if he had done it thousands of times beforehand. But it was more than just added power. It was something…completely different.

Vegeta's hair and eyes were now a deep blue, and his power…Cabba realised he couldn't _sense_ it. Not in the way he was used to. Something was nagging at him, aware it was there, but not in the same way.

What _was_ this? What _was_ this power?

"This is the newest form," Vegeta explained. "It's difficult to explain, and goodness knows how much trouble Kakarrot and I had with working out what the name was going to be. For now, let's just call it…Super Saiyan Blue."

* * *

Up on the stands, Whis clenched his hands together in joy. "Oooh!" he exclaimed. " _I_ gave them that name!"

Beerus stared at him with a look of pure disinterest. "Does that really matter?"

* * *

"Super…Saiyan…Blue?" Cabba was frozen in awe now.

Then, he suddenly recovered. "What is it?" he blurted out. "How do you do it? Could _I_ do it? If I could become a Super Saiyan-"

Vegeta held up his hand, silencing him. "I'll tell you about it when you're conscious."

"Wha-"

And Vegeta hit Cabba full-on with his true power. All it took was one blow. Cabba immediately blacked out. His hair and eyes turned back to their natural black, and he fell to the ground.

The referee immediately climbed to Cabba's body, checking for signs of consciousness.

"Contestant Cabba is knocked out. Contestant Vegeta wins!"

Vegeta returned back to his regular state, his arms crossed. But there was a faint smile on his face.

* * *

"You didn't have to lie to him, y'know," Goku told Vegeta later, while Vados was busy repairing the arena.

Vegeta looked at him.

"You know," Goku continued. "Saying how the Saiyans killed people and all that. That's not true anymore."

"I wasn't lying," Vegeta said, staring at Cabba's unconscious body. "We Saiyans murdered for Freeza. And we were happy to do it. I remember my father telling me. Nappa never said otherwise. And Freeza himself told me multiple times."

"Still," said Goku. "You didn't have to be so mean."

"If I wasn't 'being mean', he wouldn't have transformed. You can't just make him a Super Saiyan by beating him in battle. You have to give him a reason to be angry. An _actual_ reason."

Goku's eyes widened, seeming to understand.

"Like me against Freeza," he said. "When Freeza was beating me-"

Then they heard a faint noise. Cabba had started to stir.

"Wait a minute," Vegeta said. Leaving Goku, he flew over to where Cabba was slowly regaining consciousness.

"Did I…lose?" Cabba looked at his surroundings, disoriented.

"I'm surprised," Vegeta commented. "I didn't think you'd recover that quickly. But then again, I didn't expect you to transform so quickly, either."

Hearing his voice, Cabba's head snapped towards him. "You!" he snapped. "You…what are you doing?!"

Vegeta raised his head noncommittally. "Relax," he said. "If I was here to kill you, you'd be dead already."

Starting to sit up, Cabba started to think.

"Was it really true?" he asked, staring at Vegeta with an almost wide-eyed innocence. "What you said? About the Saiyans in your universe? Or were you just lying to try and get me angry?"

"Both."

"Both?"

"The Saiyans did used to be like that," Vegeta answered. " _Used to_. But we were wiped out when Planet Vegeta was destroyed. That idiot Kakarrot and I are the only pure-blooded Saiyans left."

Moving his gaze to Goku, who was happily looking around, Vegeta continued. "Kakarrot…he's soft. A little _too_ soft for his own good. A bit like you."

If Cabba was insulted by that comment, he didn't show it. "And you?"

All Vegeta could answer was, "I don't kill anymore."

"But you used to." It was a statement, not a question. "What made you change?"

That made Vegeta pause. For a second, he looked like he was going to answer, but then decided against it.

Looking serious again, he stood over Cabba.

"If you're going to fight, don't stop and ask questions mid-battle. It makes it look like you're giving up. And don't ever give up on a battle you think you could win. If we face each other again, I won't let you make that same mistake."

"R-right!" said Cabba, a little apprehensive.

And, as Vegeta looked like he was about to leave, Cabba suddenly called out.

"Wait! You haven't told me about Super Saiyan Blue! How did you obtain it?"

Vegeta turned around. "Do you really want to know?"

Cabba nodded. "If there's a way I can get stronger, I want to know! That way, I can help protect Planet Sadla, and my family."

Vegeta mulled it over. "Maybe...once this tournament is over. I've still got battles to fight."

And as Vegeta returned to the stadium, Cabba realised…he had finally started to understand him.


End file.
